Hedgelaying: How Much is a Skill Worth?

How much is learning a skill worth? It is a good question in these price sensitive times. Take hedge laying, a multitude of skills and knowledge are needed to create a good job. To pick these up you need a thorough learning experience which gives you a foundation on which you can go off on your own and take on a hedge yourself. To get to that stage you need:

An experienced and trusted instructor with the patience and generosity to explain and demonstrate as many times as necessary to the student the skills and knowledge of the craft. Climate and Community only use experienced tutors who know their stuff, Bob Smith has taught and worked on hedges for x years and is not afraid of correcting you if you are not getting it right. Honest feedback is essential for a student to progress

A well chosen hedge which is ready for laying and not over-grown (these can be difficult to find). Bishopston recreation ground’s hedge is at the right age for being laid (x-y years). Your work will be on display to the whole community so we will keep the standard of work high. The instructor takes on this responsibility.

Have a range of quality tools to work with; we have a comprehensive hand tool collection which requires maintenance and storage. These are all overheads the charity pays for all year round.

Enough time to practice, in a small group so the learning sinks in! Some hedge laying courses run for one or two days, we would describe this as more of a ‘taster’ but we have found a minimum of four days are required for the average student to become proficient enough to take on a hedge by themselves. This is the objective of the course, autonomy and confidence to get out there and hedge lay!

The charity is happy to assist unwaged or unemployed students to take part. So anyone interested who cannot afford the full price is welcome to talk to us. However the charity relies on students paying the full price because £50 per day per student is what it actually costs the charity to put the course on. We have no external funding and rely on course fees to pay the overheads. We believe this should be financially sustainable because if it is we can repeat courses rather than it being a one off. We are about building relations with the community and being of service to it but we need to pay our overheads.

Climate and Community has been established and motivated by care and concern for the environment and are looking to connect with those in the community to teach demonstrate and facilitate best practice in maintaining and sustaining the environment. We believe a key issue in addressing problems such as the warming climate is to evolve new economic arrangements that make it possible for people to work in harmony with nature. This means equipping them with the right skills and knowledge.